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What a Leap Year

From the Olympics to the elections, there’s something about that four-year stretch that continuously stokes our potential– and pushes our Challenge Buttons.

Is it the extra day we get to make our dreams come true? Melinda Gates says in the Gates Foundation annual letter, if she could have one superpower, it would be “more time.”

Wish granted, Melinda, and everyone. February 29th comes but once every 4 years. 24 extra hours to make little or big progress toward your goals. What will YOU do today?

Play the song “Leap Year” to keep you company while you read this post. Wait for it- starts at 0:12. I wrote it and recorded it 6 weeks before my first child was born, in 2008, 2 Leap Years ago:

Leap Years have always been a big leap for me. Seems like every four years I’m on the pounce, doing something new, reinventing myself and my goals, challenging myself like never before.

Maybe it’s because I’m an artist and I always need to be morphing into the next iteration. Maybe it’s because I never really knew who I was and what I wanted until the past few years. Maybe it was running away from my childhood adversity that has been driving me to climb higher.

Whatever it is, when I think back about it, I’ve made some big leaps. Looking back, here’s what I accomplished each Leap Year:

1976: Started playing the piano at age 3

1980: Survived the death of my mother and put lifelong coping skills into place

1984: Toured the British Isles and met descendants of my ancestors

1988: Started high school as a straight-A student and budding poet

1992: Completed my first year of college, joined a sorority and an honor society

1996: Moved to Vancouver, BC and learned how to live on my own in a big city

2000: Moved to OC CA and founded a band that went on to open for national acts

2004: Moved to Gainesville, FL and founded another popular band as well as the region’s most successful at-home music school